Shackled
by The bestest ever123
Summary: When Jack dies Alex decides he's had enough so he leaves. But MI6 isn't ready to let him go that easily. Unable to let him go on missions without the risk of him escaping, they strike a deal with the SAS...
1. Changes

**AN: Hey. I've made quite alot of changes to this story and replaced a couple of chapters so yeah. Hope you like.**

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Have you ever brought up the courage to do something you wouldn't generally do?

Alex was a coward, sure he had defeated Scorpia and he'd had a pretty tough childhood, but the truth was that Alex was a coward.

So when Alex said no for the first time, MI6 were surprised, they were surprised and unprepared, but they should have expected it because the human mind can only take so much.

Alex heard the phone ring, he picked it up. "MI6 requests that you be at the bank…"And Alex said no. He screamed it down the phone, because Jack was still there and the house was now empty. Because her lifeless eyes were staring at him, boring holes into his mind, searching his soul.

Her eyes were focused directly on him and in his mind Alex saw that they were full of accusations, anger. Red was blossoming over her white blouse. Her fiery red hair was plastered to her face and her lips parted gently, it hurt.

Jack was his sister, his mother, his last living relative and one of the few links to his family. But now he had nothing, everyone was dead.

It his human nature to place blame, to judge, to make accusations.

Alex blamed MI6, but he knew deep down that everything was his fault, because if he'd just said no, then so what if Jack was sent back to America, she'd still be safe, and an orphanage would've been okay, anything would've been better than the life he was living now.

But he was naïve then, he'd been selfish and young. Sometimes truth is hidden for a reason, but Alex was curious.

Even after Snakehead and the horrors of his family had been revealed, Jack had begged him time and time again to leave, to run away, but he was too far in.

The missions, the adrenaline, were like nicotine and he couldn't say no.

Jack stayed, supported him, even when she found him slumped at the doorstep 2:00 in the morning, cut up and beaten.

Alex should've expected that Scorpia wouldn't just give up like that, so they killed her.

He dropped the phone; it slipped out of his hands and smashed onto the floor with a crash.

It hurt so much, he was sobbing and the tears were falling, he was crying for Ian, for his parents, for Ash-for being such a bastard, for Yassen and Jack and he was crying because God had made him a coward.

He gathered his courage or what little he had and just stayed there staring at the wall at the huge scorpian imprinted onto it.

They'd trashed the house, unturned drawers and smashed the TV. But Jack just lay there.

So Alex stood up and just walked out. He didn't bother to shut the door because MI6 would be there in a few minutes to figure out what the hell was going on and by that time Alex would be long gone.

Alex stepped out into the cool fresh air and his feet broke into a run.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

He knew that MI6 wouldn't be at his house for a few minutes yet, but he wanted to get away. He was going faster now, and the air was rushing past him, pushing against him, he wanted to forget but it was so hard because the image of Jack kept flashing through his mind and it hurt so much, so why was it so hard to forget?

The tears were coming back now and he was sobbing, he took another turn and he slowed down to a walk. He wiped the tears away quickly, embarrassed, the narrow street was empty and silent.

Alex wanted to smash something, he wanted to grab someone and just smash them into a wall before forcing out all of his anger onto them, he wanted someone he could control, he wanted them to feel the same pain that had been inflicted on him, because Jack was dead and that was all that mattered.

It was not fair, it was not fair that he had to be the one who was hurt time and time again; it was not fair that he was the one who was blamed, that he was the one who had to kill.

Life wasn't fair and he had to deal with it, but it seemed there were no limits to how much misery it could cause to one person.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Alex sighed and ran his hand through his messy blonde hair as he walked towards the bus stop; an old man sat reading his newspaper and barely glanced at Alex.

Alex fumbled into his pocket and pulled out a wallet, "Thank God", he thought, he didn't fancy the idea of hijacking a bus; there were two tenners and a few coins, enough for food and to rent out a hotel room.

He slumped against one of the seats at the bus stop and sighed, he could rebuild a life without MI6, right?

Maybe get a job and save up enough cash for a house, he could forget about Scorpia, about the Chinese Triads, about all the missions, the people, his family, MI6, he could forget about them and live a normal life.

He leant his head against the cool surface of the glass wall and gave a bitter smile, maybe he'd think about starting a new family in a few years…maybe.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Blunt stood and stared at the destruction of the Rider house.

He heard a small cough and turned around to face Mrs. Jones, her face was expressionless, her teeth cracked into another peppermint, "Sir, Alex has gone." She stated.

A flicker of emotion flared up in her eyes, worry? But it was gone in an instant, replaced by the cold mask of experience.

Blunt was worried, had Scorpia got him. No, Scorpia wouldn't make the same mistake a third time, they'd probably have Alex killed on sight.

Then Alex had run away. But what was Rider after? Revenge? Money? Was he going to use blackmail? There was no telling what he'd do in his state.

The missions had already made him emotionally unstable and this final blow had most likely sent him hurtling off the edge.

No. Rider was strong and as unstable as he might be, his moves would be calm and collected, logical.

He was on neither side and therefore neither MI6 nor Scorpia could predict what he'd do next. Alex was dangerous.

"Send a couple of our best agents after him, under no circumstances must he be allowed to leave the country, I want Rider in custody before tonight, alive." Blunt decided.

Mrs. Jones nodded and walked briskly away, to follow his orders, after all, Blunt knew best.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Alex sat on a seat and gazed outside.

The bus rattled along and Alex looked, Alex saw the trees, the houses and the cars, the people all rushing past, all immersed in their own lives.

It felt like he was the only one moving, flowing with river of time that swirled and danced with the wind, fate. But every so often he was forced, forced to make decisions that would affect his whole life, forced to take a look and firmly plant his feet unto the river bed.

He would stand against the rushing waves, look around and wonder what he should do, where he should go. He couldn't go to Tom or Sabina; they'd immediately be put into danger.

He couldn't tell the "authorities", they wouldn't believe him anyway.

A man stumbled off the bus but as he passed the bus driver he stopped and passed the driver a small bundle of notes. Alex didn't notice.

They drove along for a while and Alex was shaken out of his thoughts as the bus lurched forward, they'd come off the main road and were moving along a dusty path through a dense forest.

Alex called out, "Hey, are you sure you know where you're going?" The driver didn't reply.

He shifted uncomfortably as he felt danger prickling against his spine; he turned around and with a shocking uncertainty realized that he was the only one sitting in the bus, it was empty. He'd been in such a daze he'd barely noticed.

The bus jerked suddenly and came to a grinding halt.

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**Thnx for reading and please review. :)**


	2. Caught

**AN: XD Read and enjoy.**

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The bus jerked suddenly and came to a grinding halt…

Alex ducked instinctively as 4 bullets came hurtling through the window and over his head.

The window smashed and thousands of glass pieces came falling. But Alex rolled away just in time.

4 men in black suits crashed through the door. Each of them wore a balaclava and had a silver scorpion imprinted onto their jackets. "Looks like Scorpia weren't taking any chances this time," thought Alex crouching behind a seat and trying to catch his breath.

One of the men, the leader Alex presumed, pointed his pistol at Alex and spoke slowly, "I want you to stand up slowly and place your hands up where I can see them."

Alex noted with a detached interest that the man's voice was trembling slightly and he grinned, trying to catch the man off guard, slowly he stood up and lifted his hands.

The man smirked slightly, thinking he'd won and moved forward, but Alex kneed the man in the stomach pulled his hand into a wrist lock and twisted the gun sharply out of his hands.

Now Alex was the one with the gun and the other man was kneeling on the floor, face screwed in pain. "No-one moves, if they do then I kill him." Alex said clearly, pointing the gun at the leader.

The other men lowered their guns slightly and so Alex pressed the trigger and jumped through the smashed window.

Alex knew he wouldn't be able to face 4 full trained Scorpia operatives on himself, and suicide wasn't much of an appealing option.

So he'd taken out one of their men and used full advantage of their momentary surprise to get away.

They didn't expect him to pull the trigger; they had underestimated him once again.

He was running towards the trees, he could hear them shooting, a bullet hit his shoulder and he stumbled, then stopped in shock, he could feel blood soaking through his shirt, it hurt like hell. But he forced his legs to keep moving, he could hear them running after him and he knew they would soon catch up.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

5 men frowned as they saw the bus and heard the gun shots.

One of them motioned towards the trees and the others nodded, pulled out their guns and ran.

"On the count of three, one, two, THREE!"

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Alex stumbled and fell-he could hear gunshots and shouts, but Scorpia had seemed to have stopped shooting at him and seemed to be shooting at another target.

He didn't care.

All he could think of was the fact that he'd killed a man, the first time in cold-blood.

He didn't have to kill the man, but he did.

That was one more would be killer dead and that was 10 more lives saved.

He didn't regret it, he wasn't upset, he didn't feel happy, he was numb and that was what scared him the most.

For a fleeting second he could see through the eyes of an assassin, Yassen, and understand.

But then he finally collapsed and let the pain wash him into unconsciousness.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The five operatives moved forward slowly and examined the bodies. One of them pulled out a phone. "Sir we got here just in time. I think we've found him."

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Alex groaned he felt like crap. Slowly he cracked his eyes open against the harsh white. He was in some kind of cell, white walls and a single light bulb that hung dangerously from the ceiling. Hidden in a not so discreet corner was the tell tale light of a CCTV camera.

He propped himself up against one of the walls, his clothes were covered in blood and his shoulder had been wrapped up neatly in bandages. There was one metal door with no keyhole and no windows.

His head started to pound and he closed his eyes, then drifted slowly back into unconciousness.

1 hour later

The door scraped open and Alex snapped his eyes open upon the noise, two familiar figures stepped into the room and the door swung shut. "Alex."

Alex sighed; looks like MI6 once again had the upper-hand. "What the hell do you want?"

"We just want to talk." Mrs. Jones said.

"Piss off"

"We're sorry to hear about Jack and we'd like to offer our condolences..."

"Just get to the point, Blunt, where the hell am I and why?" Alex snarled trying to control the fountain of fury that was bubbling up inside of him.

"More training." He said simply.

"MORE TRAINING? MORE TRAINING, IS THAT IT? WHY THE FUCK WOULD I NEED MORE TRAINING?! DO YOU SERIOUSLY THINK IM GOING TO WORK FOR YOU?!"

Blunt raised an eyebrow, "Yes."

Alex glared at him furiously.

"Leave me alone." He snarled hoarsely.

"Fine, oh, and Alex, if you pull a stunt like that again, I'm afraid we may have to resort to a few more...extreme measures..." Blunt said off-handedly.

"Like what?" Said Alex testing the waters, trying to see how far they would go.

Well, the Psychiatric rehab centre is offering free places, for those who are in need of _specialized help_..." he trailed off.

Alex got up- tried to get up, using the wall as support and fell back down again.

And they both walked out, before Alex could retort back angrily, leaving the door wide open.

He felt a rush of anger that caused his head to swim. Heck they hadn't even answered his question! Well that was one short reunion. He forced himself to get up, after them; he stumbled out of the room and into the fresh air.

Alex gaped as he found himself standing in the last place he'd ever think about returning to.

There was a signpost that read, training ground B4 and a few other buildings were scattered around the area. Overall it looked no different from the last time he'd been there and... Blunt had gone.

"Fuck!"

He looked around trying to find his bearings, and then he stumbled towards the rough direction of the Sergeants cabin.

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**AN: Don't forget to review. :)**


	3. Challenge

**AN: My fav chapter so far**

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"Enter"

Alex walked in cautiously and stopped in front of the Sergeant.

"Sir"

The Sergeant looked up from the paperwork he was filling in, his eyes widened in surprise as he saw Alex, the boy's clothes were covered in blood and he was covered in bruises.

His shoulder had been injured and he looked older. The childhood naivety had been replaced with a new awareness and paranoia. His eyes were cold and if he hadn't been informed of Cub's arrival earlier he would not have recognized him.

"Um...Cub?"

Alex smiled awkwardly, "Did Blunt tell you about..."

"Ah yes," said the Sergeant, "I'm really sorry about what happened to your housekeeper, Jack, was it?"

Alex nodded uncomfortably, "It's okay, I'm over it," he lied.

"Ah, well then, more to the point- I spoke with Blunt and he suggested that I put you in a more challenging position, just to see how much you've improved, so, you'll be working as one of our training instructors."

"Wha?"

"Is there a problem with that?"

"Um...no, it's just, won't I be working with K-Unit?"

The Sergeant grimaced slightly, "ah, about that, I'm under strict orders not to let you leave the camp, so I thought I'd give you a job more suited to your _predicament_."

Alex nodded uneasily, considering K-Units reactions to the first time they'd met him, he wasn't sure how well the other training instructors would take him.

"You'll be living with K-Unit and doing your training exercises with them. As for you becoming a training instructor, it won't be full time, you will just be doing little jobs for now, like helping the new recruits, knocking their ego down. Showing them that this isn't a babysitting camp and if they want to survive they're going to have to follow our commands to the letter. All right?"

"Yeah."

The Sergeant nodded, "Good. Dismissed."

He watched the boy turn and push the door open, then look both ways before stepping out. Cub was a mystery, he'd come last year, a young boy, smart sure, but inexperienced. In truth the Sergeant hadn't expected him to make the training program, but he had and now he was back, much different.

His file was very impressive, 7 missions in a year and all successful, but the file was brief - on a need to know basis only and most of the information on there had been issued with a level one clearance.

He sighed and took a sip of coffee. Then turned back to the stacks of paperwork covering his desk.

"Damn MI6!"

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Alex stopped in front of his 'home' and tensed slightly as he heard a roar of laughter come from inside. It was unfamiliar.

He gathered up his courage and ignored the butterflies in his stomach, then rapped twice on the door.

Eagle opened it grinning widely, but he frowned as he saw Alex, "umm…Who the hell are you?"

Alex smirked, "Eagle," he began. Eagle gaped as he recognized the voice.

"Shit…Cub?!"

Snake peered around Eagle upon hearing the exclamation, "Cub! What a surprise, uh...guess you better come on in." He said, noting the dried blood on his clothes and weary eyes.

Both soldiers moved from the door-way and Alex entered.

The first thing Alex saw when he entered the barracks was Wolf's scowl. He was sitting on his bed, arms folded and glaring blatantly at Alex.

The Barracks hadn't changed a bit; it was the same old 'comforting' grey walls and cold stone floors.

Alex shifted un-easily and turned his attention to the 'new' man who was sitting on Fox's 'old' bed. He had dark, black skin, cool blue eyes and was staring at Alex with an expression of cautiousness, curiosity and awe. Alex stared back.

Eagle was the one who broke the silence, "Cub, we weren't expecting you…"

"Yeah"

"Ah. Mm, well you've changed…a lot." He carried on, trying to ease the tension.

"Yeah"

Snake stepped in, "you want to get that cleaned up?" He asked briskly and nodded to Alex's wound.

"Yeah"

At this, Wolf snorted with contempt, "typical teenagers and their lack of communication skills." He muttered loudly.

'Fox's replacement' grinned un-easily, Snake smirked. Even Eagle managed a small grin.

"C'mon Wolf, lay off." Eagle said off-handedly.

Wolf raised an eyebrow and Alex sighed, back to square 1.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

"All done" Snake said patting the bandages.

"Thanks." Alex said, testing his shoulder and grimacing at the sharp stabs of pain.

He made his way over to the spare bed he had used last time and stared at his normal, typical military style uniform.

He could hear the others whispering in hushed voices and the occasional snigger from Eagle. Were they talking about him?

Sighing, he lay down flat on his bed and turned over to face the wall. He soon fell fast asleep.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Alex woke up, sweating and dry-heaving. His sheets were tangled around his legs and he was sure he'd been screaming. Sleep was usually his only release, but now that had also deserted him.

As quietly as he could, so as not to wake the rest of the Unit, he untangled the sheets and stood up. He quickly got dressed and walked outside, needing to get out. He couldn't stay a moment longer.

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Alex found himself in front of the entrance gates. It was cold, at around 1:00. The gates were heavily guarded and watched day and night.

Alex sighed; maybe there was a secret entrance hidden somewhere…nah, too risky.

"Couldn't sleep?" Asked a familiar, gruff voice, from behind.

Alex swung around quickly. "Yes sir"

"I used to have the same problem myself, when I was younger."

"Hmm" Murmured Alex turning back to scanning the entrance, looking for a loop-hole, anything to get himself out of this hell-hole.

"Not thinking of escaping are you?"

"Uh no sir," said Alex, smoothly.

"Don't lie."

"Yessir, okay, maybe I was sir."

The Sergeant grinned, "Each unit takes turns guarding this gate, every day and every night, 'sides even if a soldier did manage to get outta here, there are still miles and miles of waste land to get through, before he can even come close to reaching civilization.

I have 3 specialized units who patrol the borders of this complex every night and there are also soldiers who are completing nightly training courses - right outside, as we speak. If any of my soldiers spotted a hare outside they wouldn't hesitate to shoot and if they noticed any sign of unusual activity they'd report immediately." The Sergeant waved his hand in a large sweeping motion.

"Yessir...

...I'm sure this place may seem very full-proof at first glance sir, but one thing I learned from experience was that even the most secure system has its weaknesses, sir."Alex retorted, scanning the walls that surrounded the whole complex.

"Cub, if there was one person who managed to escape through my system, I'd gladly bow down to them. But we're not like Scorpia, our soldiers are not trained to fight for us, they fight for us out of loyalty and patriotism, and that makes a heck load of difference."

Alex said nothing, the Sergeant was right but it still didn't mean that the complex was impenetrable, on the contrary…

The Sergeant stared at Alex thoughtfully, "I know you still do not understand, so let me make this easier for you, if you manage to get out of this complex and to the nearest town, which is roughly 15 miles from here, without getting yourself killed or captured, which is very unlikely. I'll help to try and ease Blunt into giving you a little more freedom. How 'bout that?"

Alex smirked, "Sure sir, thank you sir." The Sergeant grinned.

"I have full faith in my security system and the people who created it. So you be careful Cub. Anyway, its nearly dawn, so you better go and try to get a few hours rest okay?" Said the Sergeant, with a tiny flicker of pity.

"Yessir." Said Alex also grinning...he could taste the air of freedom.

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**AN: :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: A New chapter. Sry I haven't updated in so long. I've had writers block.**

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Alex couldn't get back to sleep.

He glanced at the still figures of K-Unit.

Wolf was going to be trouble- they'd made some progress during Point Blanc and he had given Alex a get well card , _actually he was probably coerced into it by Fox_. But then again, Wolf was probably hit hard when he found out Fox was leaving to join MI6, after all Units were like family.

It was 4:00am. An hour until they'd wake up. Sighing, he turned to face the wall and shut his eyes.

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Alex awoke to the sound of hushed murmuring. He yawned and blearily swung his legs out of bed.

"Rise and shine, sweetheart." Wolf said smirking maliciously.

"Fuck off." Alex loudly muttered under his breath.

"Oooh. Since when did Cub get an_ attitude_?" Eagle said grinning lightly.

"It's the teenage hormones; I know cuz I've got a little brother exactly like_ him_." Replied 'Fox's Replacement'.

Alex pulled on his trousers. "Who the hell are you anyway?" Snarled Alex at the new member.

"I'm Shark, I've heard a lot about you _Alex_."

"Tch."

"Though, you're pretty different from what I heard of you."

Bemused, Alex looked up, "What did you hear about me?"

"I heard you were quiet, shy and a push over." He replied grinning.

Alex snorted.

"I've changed."

"Yeah we can see that." Said Wolf, surprisingly without the sarcasm.

"Anyway, we've got to meet the Sergeant in half an hour so get a move on ladies!" Grinned Snake.

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Alex entered the mess hall, staying close behind the rest of K-Unit and trying to ignore the stares from the other soldiers.

But Eagle seemed to be enjoying the attention he was receiving and was intent on spreading the word that "Cub was back!"

Alex grabbed a tray and was given food. He felt awkward, he was unsure of whether he should sit with K-Unit or whether he would be unwelcome.

Last time he was at Beacon Brecons, Fox had been a sort-of friend but now he was gone…

Sighing he moved to follow the rest of K-Unit, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around.

"Hey, Cub right? I'm Cockroach." Said a tall man.

"Um, ok, hi."

"Uh… well, it's good to have you back. I'm one of the training instructors and I was meant to teach you how to shoot last time you were here, but the higher-ups forbade it. However, it seems as though they've changed their minds, so I've been ordered to give you private shooting lessons. Also, I'm going to be giving you self-defense lessons with my friend Bee, just so you know how to protect yourself."

"Cool." Said Alex amused.

"Ok, then I will be expecting you at the shooting range, tomorrow at 3:00am, got it?"

"Yeah… I mean yes sir."

"You want to come meet the rest of the training instructors then?"

"Um.. .yeah. OK." Said Alex following Cockroach to a table, and glancing back at K-Unit.

Bad mistake, Alex accidently caught eyes with Wolf who raised an eyebrow and sneered. Alex looked away embarrassed and feeling a little guilty.

He knew that it was fine to eat with other Units but he somehow he got the feeling that he'd just landed himself into deep trouble.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

K-Unit stood in a line in front of the Sergeant.

"I've gotta meeting with D-Unit in exactly two minutes, so I'm going to make this short 'n' snappy, becuz' of Alex's surprise return I've decided to change today's schedule slightly. You guys are gonna meet Ant at C7 in four hours; Ant will give you the details when you arrive."

"Yes sir!" Yelled K-Unit.

"Dismissed!" Bellowed the Sergeant in return.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Alex grunted, he'd been running for half an hour and was starting to feel the effects of the kilo in his backpack.

He sighed, he wanted out, he wanted out of MI6, he wanted out of the military; in fact he wanted nothing to do with the government or underworld at all, but that was impossible because he was already too far in and he knew that he wouldn't be able overcome his curiosity or thirst for adventure.

Still, being trapped inside a military camp would not do wonders for his mental health.

The only chance for a bit of freedom and the Sergeants respect was to get out, because Alex knew that the Sergeant always kept his word or tried to at any rate.

He would have to bide his time and no…the Sergeant would be expecting that, in order to get out he would have to do the most surprising and least exp-

"Hey, Double-O-Nothing." Wolf said falling behind the other members of K-Unit and slowing down to match Alex's pace.

Alex said nothing and tried to concentrate on keeping his legs moving and ignoring his aching shoulder.

"Finding _this_ hard? Man, Cub I didn't realize you were so out of touch. You want mummy to help you?" Said Wolf grinning.

"Wolf, don't start, it's not as though you're finding this easy either," Replied Alex shakily, noting Wolf's heavy breathing and the sweat trickling down his forehead.

"Hmm."

Alex was surprised at the response.

They carried on running in silence.

"So…When did you become so friendly with Cock-head?" Asked Wolf angrily.

"Who?" Asked Alex again surprised.

"Cockroach, shit-head, whatever you want to call him."

"Uh, since this morning, why?"

Wolf shrugged. "Just wanna know."

" Doesn't sound like you two get along…"

"He's a bastard!"

Alex raised an eyebrow.

"Just stay away from him okay?"

"No. He may be a bastard to you but I'm fine with that…and since when do you care so much about me?"

"I don't care about you. But you are part of my Unit and when I say stay away from him I mean it Cub."

Alex clenched his teeth, "I'm tired of being ordered around and I'm especially not gonna take it from you!"

"Fine," snarled Wolf, "just don't come running to me if anything happens."

"Oh, it's fine," said Alex smiling bitterly, "you're the last person I'll come running to if anything happens."

Wolf shook his head and ran ahead to the rest of K-Unit, leaving a very confused and shocked Alex behind.

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**AN: I was wondering if you guys wanted a pairing in this because if you do then send me a review or something telling me what you want. :) But if u don't then that's fine too.**


	5. Revelations

**AN: I'm really, really, reaallly sorry I haven't updated in so long, I am a very bad author and I am very disorganised and from now on I'm going to try my best to update every week. :) Please forgive me!**

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The cabin was dark; Alex pushed himself out of bed and smashed his hand against his alarm clock which immediately stopped ringing.

Luckily the rest of K-Unit were still knocked out.

2:50am, "Crap," muttered Alex, he had ten minutes to get ready and meet Cockroach at the shooting range.

He knew from past experience that the training instructors were usually very creative when it came to dishing out punishments for tardiness.

He yanked on his combat trousers and with half his jacket on, undone laces and sleep filled eyes he ran towards the shooting range or in that general direction he thought.

When he finally did arrive at the shooting range, after five minutes of running frantically in circles; he was pleased to discover he had 3 minutes left, Cockroach still hadn't arrived.

The gate to the shooting range was locked so he perched on the wall of the shooting range and waited.

When Cockroach did arrive he was angry, very angry.

Behind Cockroach were two other soldiers, one of them swaggered towards the gate swivelling a set of keys around his finger.

Cockroach spotted Alex and motioned for him to get down. Alex slid off the wall and stopped in front of him.

"How long were you waiting for?" He asked sharply.

"Not long", replied Alex quietly, distracted by the dark bruise on Cockroach's jaw, it looked nasty and recent.

"Right, well when I ask you to come at 3:00, I mean you come at 3:00, not before, not after, understand?" he snarled.

Alex grew angry, he knew that whoever had given Cockroach that bruise had put him in a nasty mood but that was no reason to let his anger out on him.

"Last time I checked, there was no rule against coming early."

Cockroach couldn't think of a sharp retort, a second later he smirked, drew back his fist and smashed it against Alex's nose.

Alex didn't have time to react, he fell on all fours and clutched his nose which was gushing blood, it hurt.

"Oh! Sorry, my hand slipped" Cockroach said in a blatantly sarcastic way.

A soldier stood behind him, the soldier was female and had dirty blonde hair, as she turned her face away Alex caught a glimpse of a small grin playing on her lips.

"Do you know what the punishment for backchat is?" asked Cockroach. The anger that a moment ago had laced his voice was all gone and it seemed as though the pleasant man whom Alex had spoken to yesterday was back.

"Boh Bi dunno bmaybe ba punch bin the bface?"

Cockroach smiled amused, "No, the punishment for backchat is usually 50 press ups, but you were pissing me off, so the punch was inevitable right? Anyway, lets get you cleaned up then we'll see how good you are with a gun, eh?"

Alex gaped.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Blunt tapped a pencil against his desk.

"Are you sure you should be allowing the SAS to give Alex shooting lessons?" Mrs Jones murmured, "The last time he held a gun I was nearly shot, besides, he is still young."

"Mrs Jones, Alex has already been given the best weapons training by one of the best underworld organisations available, also, last time Alex held a gun he purposely misfired and extra lessons will do no more harm which has already been done."

Mrs Jones nodded, "Yes, Alex does not have the instinct to kill, and he would never kill in cold blood."

Mr Blunt raised an eyebrow, "he does not have a natural instinct to kill but from what he has been through now I wouldn't be so sure to dismiss the idea that he would never kill in cold blood. Like I have previously mentioned Jacks death has probably sent him into insanity and if it hasn't, it's only a matter of time."

Mrs Jones sighed, "And how will sending him into a SAS camp help?"

"I was hoping the soldiers there might be able to help him regain his sense of trust."

Mrs Jones smiled tiredly, "that is a lot to hope for."

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

Alex splashed water on his face and gargled again trying to remove the metallic taste of blood from his mouth.

"You done?" Shouted Cockroach.

"Yeah." Alex replied turning the tap off, wiping his face against his sleeve and unlocking the door.

Cockroach stared at him checking for any smears of left over blood, "Ok, looking good, let's go."

Alex trailed behind Cockroach and his friend, he had discovered that she was Bee, she was quiet but when she did speak her remarks were cold, sharp and snarky. They were talking quietly, well, Cockroach was talking, Bee was just staring straight ahead smirking, as usual.

Alex was confused; he wasn't sure whether to feel angry at Cockroach or not.

They walked to the shooting range. It was 3:30 and more soldiers were starting to come out of their cabins and mill around.

Cockroach turned to Alex and shook his head disappointedly, "we are half an hour late and I need to teach you a heck load of stuff."

"Hey Cockroach!" Yelled a rough voice. A tall white lanky man came bounding towards them panting lightly.

"Hey Dog," sighed Cockroach.

"You must be Cub," he said grinning at Alex, "its cool to meet you."

"Yeah you too," said Alex smiling back, the man's smile was infectious and reminded him of Tom.

Alex winced, Tom, in all of the commotion he had forgotten about him and remembering him bought back a lot of painful memories.

"So what you guys doing out here," barked Dog still grinning.

"What else are you meant to do in a shooting range?" Said Bee shaking her head.

"Nice to see you too Bee," smiled Dog refusing to let her comment faze him.

"Here," said Cockroach ignoring Dog and handing Alex a pistol, "it's all loaded up and ready to go, just aim at that target," he pointed at a large target board, "and pull the trigger. If you hit the bull's eye or the innermost ring, which is unlikely for a very young beginner, we will move you onto a harder target. You get three shots."

By now it was pretty busy, a group of soldiers were standing around them watching the spectacle with amusement, let's watch the sixteen year old make a fool of himself.

A few soldiers had started to taunt and tease Alex, Cockroach had smiled at them egging them on silently, Alex was trying to ignore them.

He sighed and pointed the pistol towards the target. The shooting range had gone quiet. His finger pressed down slowly on the trigger...

...and somebody gave a huge sneeze!

* * *

**AN: Anyway, please review even though I know I probably don't deserve it because I haven't updated in so long. . Sooorryy! :)**


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